Star juniors such as Jack Wighton and Brenko Lee would be hard to poach under the new draft system. Photo: Jay Cronan

A draft system was mooted at an NRL chief executive's meeting early this year, and if approved would not be introduced until 2017 at the earliest.

One proposal under consideration is for each club to pick their best five prospects, who would be exempt from the draft. It means rivals would be unable to pluck highly sought-after talents, like Milford, Jack Wighton and Edrick Lee, who Canberra has spent money and resources nurturing.

"You think about what a difference that would make to us,'' Hawke said. "We're better off under any system they introduce which protects talent we develop. At the moment we have no protection.''

However, some officials involved with the Raiders say there are teething problems that would need to be resolved. There are concerns teams with strong nurseries such as the Raiders and Penrith may baulk at the cost of bringing juniors through if most are drafted off to rival clubs who don't invest as much in development.

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At what age the best juniors are ''quarantined'' is another issue Raiders development boss David Hamilton would like to see addressed.

Hamilton says any system should also allow local juniors such as Terry Campese, who grew up dreaming of playing for the Raiders, to be able to do so and not be drafted elsewhere.

"They say five [players], when do you quarantine them and for how long? Is it 15 or 18, I'm not sure,'' Hamilton said.

"The standouts, that's what they're trying to protect. Milford, Wighton and Edrick Lee are the type of players you need to protect at each club.

"The NRL has to have some strong guidelines that if you're going to take that player, you're going to give the incumbent club back the money they've invested into it. It's the only way it's going to stop.''

Hawke said he was pleased the NRL was looking at addressing the lack of compensation for junior development, a bugbear of the Raiders for some time.

"Nothing's ever perfect, but for us we're glad they're starting to do something about it,'' Hawke said.

"I'm really chuffed they've heard what we've said and they're going to do something about it. If you want to introduce some club loyalty, and you identify kids at a young age and bring them through, it has to be a bit of a two-way street.''

In June during a trip to Canberra, NRL chief David Smith gave the best indication yet junior development concessions would soon be introduced.

"We've looked at the salary cap and the club funding model; what we haven't looked at is player development and how we treat that to recognise clubs like Canberra Raiders," Smith said. "We've got to have a system that recognises those clubs which do the great job the Raiders do [with junior development]. "Everybody's clear it's something that's perhaps been a bit of a loose end, and it's something we're committed to having looked at by the end of the year."

The proposed draft follows the NRL's plans to undertake a big overhaul of the lower grades.

Fairfax Media reported on Sunday the under-20s Holden Cup competition is set to be scrapped when the broadcast deal expires at the end of 2017. Not everyone was convinced it was the best pathway to the NRL. It will be replaced by under-18 and under-20 competitions aligned with NSW and Queensland Cup teams.

The Raiders have already indicated their confidence in the under-20s system is deteriorating by sending their best youngsters to either Souths Logan or Mounties more often this year.

The likes of Patrick Mago, Luke Bateman and Tevita Pangai have played most of the year in the state competitions. Since last season the Raiders have changed their strategy to send their standout prospects, particularly forwards, to NSW or Queensland Cup so they can be battle hardened against fringe first-graders.